Form tutors will provide parents with most of the information about their child's progress and any problems they might be experiencing. Ordinarily, the form tutor is the person who contacts a parent if there is a problem at school; however, the year leader or guidance teacher may contact the parents, since the form tutor has full-time responsibility as a specialist subject teacher.

A 2012 study by the Asian Development Bank and the Comparative Education Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong pointed out that private tutoring can dominate the lives of young people and their families, maintain and exacerbate social inequalities, divert needed household income into an unregulated industry, and create inefficiencies in education systems. It can also undermine official statements about fee-free education and create threats to social cohesion.[1]

In South Korea, nearly 90% of elementary students receive some sort of shadow education.[2] In Hong Kong, China, about 85% of senior secondary students do so.[3] 60% of primary students in West Bengal, India,[4] and 60% of secondary students in Kazakhstan receive private tutoring.[5]

Demand for tutoring in Asia is exploding; by comparison globally, shadow education is most extensive in Asia. This is partly due to the stratification of education systems, cultural factors, perceptions of shortcomings in regular school systems, and the combination of growing wealth and smaller family sizes.[1] Therefore, the education sector has become a profitable industry which businesses have created different kinds of products and advertisement such us "the king/queen of tutorial", a usual advertisement tactic of Hong Kong tutorial centers that has spread to South Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India where tutors achieve "celebrity-like status".[6] Online private tutor matching platform[7] and online learning platform offering online learning materials are other creations.

In Cambodia, most tutoring is provided by teachers,[8] whereas in Hong Kong, China, it is provided by individuals, small companies or large companies.[9] In Mongolia, most tutoring is labor-intensive,[10] while entrepreneurs in South Korea make use of computers and other forms of technology.[1]

Some studies have estimated costs associated with “shadow education”. In Pakistan, expenditures on tutoring per child averaged the equivalent of $3.40 a month in 2011. In India, average spending was lower, but still equated to about $2 per month.[11]

In Georgia, household expenditures for private tutoring at the secondary school level was $48 million in 2011.[12] In Hong Kong, China, the business of providing private tutoring to secondary schools reached $255 million in 2011.[13]

In India, a 2008 survey estimated the size of the private tutoring sector to be $6.4 billion.[14] In Japan, families spent a whopping $12 billion in 2010 on private tutoring.[8]

In the Republic of Korea, where the government has attempted to cool down the private tutoring market, shadow education costs have continually grown, reaching a staggering $17.3 billion in 2010. Household expenditures on private tutoring are equivalent to about 80% of government expenditures on public education for primary and secondary students.[15]

In many countries, individuals can become tutors without training. In some countries, including Cambodia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lao PDR, and Tajikistan, the pattern of classroom teachers supplementing their incomes by tutoring students after school hours is more a necessity than a choice, as many teachers’ salaries hover close to the poverty line.[1]

In the Republic of Korea, the number of private tutors expanded roughly 7.1% annually on average from 2001 to 2006, and by 2009 the sector was the largest employer of graduates from the humanities and social sciences.[16]

Private tutoring is not always effective in raising academic achievement; and in some schools students commonly skip classes or sleep through lessons because they are tired after excessive external study. This means that the shadow system can make regular schooling less efficient.[1]

Teachers who spend more time focusing on private lessons than regular classes can cause greater inefficiencies in the mainstream school system. Situations in which teachers provide extra private lessons for pupils for whom they are already responsible in the public system can lead to corruption, particularly when teachers deliberately teach less in their regular classes in order to promote the market for private lessons.[17]

When private tutoring is provided by well trained tutor however the effects can be dramatic, with pupils improving performance by two standard deviations.[18] See also Bloom's 2 Sigma Problem.

The system of excessive private tutoring will take time for activities such as playing soccer or joining clubs from students.[19]

A 2012 study by the Asian Development Bank and the Comparative Education Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong recommended policymakers across the region take a closer look at how ‘shadow education’ affects family budgets, children’s time, and national education systems. It suggested that in order to reduce the need for private lessons, improvements in mainstream schools should be made. Regulations are also needed to protect consumers.[1]

A private tutor is a private instructor who teaches a specific subject or skill to an individual student or small group of students. Such attention ideally allows the student to improve knowledge or skills more rapidly than in a classroom setting. Tutors are often privately hired and paid by the student, the student's family or an agency. Some are used for remedial students or others needing special attention; some provide more advanced material for exceptionally capable and highly motivated students, or in the context of homeschooling. Tutoring can also occur when one adult helps another adult student to study a specific course or subject that he/she is taking to get a better result. The adult can also let the student work on his/her own, and can be there if the student has any questions.

Academic coaching is an evolution of mentoring applied to academics. Coaching involves a collaborative approach. Coaches try to help students learn how they best learn and how to operate in an academic environment. Tutors help students learn the material in individual courses while coaches help students learn how to be successful in school. In college, that includes such topics as: study skills, time management, stress management, effective reading, note-taking, test-taking, and understanding how to use a syllabus. Academic coaches meet with the student regularly throughout the semester. Coaches work with students in all kinds of situations, not just those who are struggling academically. Some highly motivated, high-achieving students will have a coach to improve their learning efficiency. Academic coaching also occurs to help students prepare for entrance exams to gain entry to schools or universities. Tutoring may even be used for the whole application process to university. Academic coaching is a huge industry in Asia. For example, in India, a majority of students, be it of any class or stream, visit a coaching center or a "study circle."[20]

Sometimes, current students act as tutors to other students. Sometimes, a classroom setting is not enough for a student to learn all of the material that they need to know in order to pass the test or to go on to harder classes. Academic tutoring from students at a higher grade level or experience in an academic setting can help to encourage and strengthen a student so that they do not fall behind.

For students, helping other students will be beneficial because the students can check themselves while they teach the lesson(s).[21]

Online tutoring is a new way for a student to receive help, either scheduled or on-demand. Sessions are done through an application where a student and tutor can communicate. Common tools include chat, whiteboard, web conferencing, teleconferencing and other specialized applets which make it easier to convey information back and forth. For example, there are specialized applets designed specifically for mathematics which allow the use of mathematical symbols. There is also an example-tracing tutor program that uses a behavior graph. The tutor is able to create an outline program that works a specific problem step by step. The process is activated once the student selects that problem. This is helpful for those who need help but are not able to meet face to face with someone.[22]

Online tutoring has been gaining popularity over the past couple of years due to the ease of being able to connect to a tutor at moment's notice when help is required.[citation needed] This is especially effective when a student is studying for a test that is scheduled for the next day at school and is stumped on a particular problem. Not all online tutoring companies offer an on-demand tutoring service.

In-home tutoring is a form of tutoring that occurs in the home. Most often the tutoring relates to an academic subject or test preparation. This is in contrast to tutoring centers or tutoring provided through after-school programs. The service most often involves one-on-one attention provided to the pupil.

Solution assistance is a growing trend in the field of mathematics tutoring. This method of checking the accuracy of answers is particularly helpful for students without a computer or those students that live in remote areas.

In Canada and the United States, writing tutor is the common term used for individuals working one-on-one with students in college and university writing centers.[23][24] The terms tutor and consultant are often used interchangeably, and both terms are used with deliberation as they are seen to represent a specific relationship, role, or activity between tutor and tutee. For example, Griffin, Keller, Pandey, Pedersen, and Skinner[25] in their 2003-2004 survey of North American writing centers describe a tutor as an expert providing a less expert learner with knowledge, implying a transmission approach. In contrast, the consultant, also expert, collaborates with the tutee in addressing the writing task, implying a social constructivist approach. Others who use the term writing tutor describe the tutor as facilitating learning through active listening, responding, as well as using silence and wait time.[26] Taking the cue from the student, these writing tutors function much like the consultants described by Griffin et al., offering suggestions and working together on a given writing task. Regardless of the title, the intent and actions of the tutor are important to writing center practitioners. A tutor may say he/she is acting collaboratively with the student and unknowingly be enforcing her or his own agenda.[27]